Christmas Evans, the Preacher of Wild Wales: His country, his times, and his contemporariesHood, Edwin Paxton
History
Christmas Evans, the Preacher of Wild Wales: His country, his times, and his contemporaries
Hood, Edwin Paxton
Evans, Christmas, 1766-1838
And this was far from the worst of his afflictions; there were, in that
day, persons of an order of character, unknown to our happier, more
Christian, and enlightened times,—pert and conceited brethren, unworthy
to unloose the latchet of the great man’s shoes, but who fancied
themselves far above him, from their leading a town life, and being
pastors over wealthier Churches. Well, they have gone, and we are not
writing their lives, for they never had a life to write, only they were
often annoying flies which teased the poor traveller on his way. On most
of these he took his revenge, by fastening upon them some _sobriquet_,
which he fetched out of that imaginative store-house of his,—from the
closets of compound epithet; these often stuck like a burr to the coat of
the character, and proved to be perhaps the best passport to its owner’s
notoriety through the Principality. Further than this, we need not
suppose they troubled the great man much; uncomplainingly he went on, for
he loved his Master, and he loved his work. He only remembered that a
certain sum must be found by such a day to pay off a certain portion of a
chapel-debt; he had to meet the emergency, and he could only meet it by
obtaining help from his brethren.
In this way he travelled from North to South Wales forty times; he
preached always once every day in the week, and twice on the Lord’s Day.
Of course, the congregations everywhere welcomed him; the collections
usually would be but very small; ministers and officers, more usually, as
far as was possible, somewhat resented these calls, as too frequent and
irregular. He preached one of his own glorious sermons, and then—does it
not seem shocking to us to know, that he usually stood at the door, as it
were, hat in hand, to receive such contributions as the friends might
give to him? And he did this for many years, until, at last, his
frequent indisposition, in consequence of this severity of service,
compelled him to ask some friend to take his place at the door; but in
doing this he always apologised for his delegation of service to another,
lest it should seem that he had treated with inattention and disrespect
those who had contributed to him of their love and kindness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account